By Jordan Delucia
CHATHAM, LA (April 19, 2024) – When Seth Bergman got the call from former ASCS National champion Wayne Johnson to come and drive the TwoC Racing ride, he knew he had to make an impact right away.
Consider the impact made. The Snohomish, WA-racer scored the win in the 2024 ASCS National Tour opener at Super Bee Speedway Friday night, leading all but one lap en route to his 19th career National Tour victory in his first start with the Oklahoma-based team.
“I think I was able to gel as quick as I did just because I’ve been friends with Wayne for a long time,” Bergman said. “I was able to come into a team being familiar with the guy in charge.
“I just felt instantly a level of comfort and ease; I didn’t feel like they were down my back to do anything. I felt like they had a great team here with a lot of pieces in place to perform well.”
Johnson, the 2000 ASCS National champion from Oklahoma City, OK, was injured in a crash during an event in Texas last weekend, rendering him unable to race while he navigates his recovery process. He soon phoned Bergman – a longtime friend and fellow competitor – and asked him to fill the seat in his absence. Bergman accepted the offer and wasted no time in representing of the nation’s most accomplished Winged 360 Sprint Car drivers, winning in his first night out.
“Getting an opportunity like this – it feels great to put the hard work in and be noticed and have the phone ring for an opportunity like this,” Bergman said. “The phone rang too because I’ve known Wayne for a really long time. We’re friends. Part of this sport is about networking and who you know.
“It’s very unfortunate to see what happened to Wayne. I honestly get a little emotional thinking about it. He’s a friend, and seeing him in the condition he’s in and not knowing when he’s gonna return, if he is, is a lot to wrap your head around.”
While he led most of the race, Bergman’s second lap was most notable. He charged into Turn 1 with a full head of steam and got underneath Andrew Deal to take second, then powered around the outside of polesitter Brady Baker for the lead out of Turn 4.
“I knew from the warmup lap, I was gonna be sporty early,” Bergman said. “Just experience. Andrew’s very experienced too, but he kinda got snookered on the start – Baker looked like he came up and got into [Deal], so he was maybe feeling his car out for a lap or two after that. I was able to pounce on opportunities quick.”
From there on out, it was smooth sailing for Bergman and the No. 2C. He fended off all challenges from Deal and Baker on restarts and cruised to the $4,000 payday.
After chasing Bergman nearly the entire race, Deal crossed the stripe second – a new career-best finish on the National Tour. The Rookie of the Year contender from Caney, KS, challenged for the lead around the halfway point but was unable to get close enough to make a move in the end.
“It was kinda sketchy first lap – polesitter got a little wide on the get-go and put us in the fence, so it took me 3-to-4 laps to recover from that just to make sure nothing was torn up,” Deal said. “After a big hit like that, you don’t really go into the next turn too terribly hard.”
After battling back-and-forth with Deal for the runner-up spot in the first half of the event, Baker crossed the stripe third. Deal wrestled the spot away for good on Lap 8, and then came a hard-charging Koty Adams who raced from eighth on the grid and passed Baker for third on Lap 22. Adams later blew a tire on Lap 27, ruining his podium run and handing the spot back to Baker, who drove it home with his first Tour podium finish of the season.
“The car was just really loose the whole race,” Baker said. “Ran the wing about as far back as it would go and was still way free. But all-in-all, I think we had a good night.”
Reigning ASCS National champion Jason Martin finished fourth and captured the night’s Hard Charger honors in his drive up from 22nd on the starting grid. Oklahoma racer Brandon Anderson completed the top five from 11th on the grid.
UP NEXT
ASCS National Tour racing continues Saturday, April 20, at Super Bee Speedway in Chatham, LA. Tickets will be on sale at the gate; streaming available on DIRTVision.
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 2C-Seth Bergman[4]; 2. 15D-Andrew Deal[2]; 3. 71-Brady Baker[1]; 4. 36-Jason Martin[22]; 5. 55B-Brandon Anderson[11]; 6. 95-Matt Covington[5]; 7. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[7]; 8. 71T-Channin Tankersley[23]; 9. 10-Landon Britt[17]; 10. 45X-Kyler Johnson[19]; 11. 88-Terry Easum[3]; 12. 2J-Zach Blurton[18]; 13. 91-Michael Day[12]; 14. 88K-Jordan Knight[16]; 15. 2-Brekton Crouch[13]; 16. 6G-Bryan Gossel[20]; 17. 88B-Brandon Blenden[24]; 18. 26-Jacob Harris[10]; 19. 6-Koty Adams[8]; 20. 14-Jordon Mallett[21]; 21. 24-Tyler Harris[9]; 22. 9-Josh McCord[15]; 23. 9L-Lane Whittington[6]; 24. 121-Jan Howard[14]
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps): 1. 10-Landon Britt[1]; 2. 2J-Zach Blurton[2]; 3. 45X-Kyler Johnson[4]; 4. 6G-Bryan Gossel[3]; 5. 14-Jordon Mallett[7]; 6. 36-Jason Martin[9]; 7. 1H-Hank Davis[12]; 8. 71T-Channin Tankersley[10]; 9. 21-Butch David[5]; 10. 938-Bradley Fezard[15]; 11. 16G-Austyn Gossel[11]; 12. 16-Evan McElhaney[6]; 13. 2H-Tommy Hall[13]; 14. 13X-Jake Brashier[14]; 15. 88B-Brandon Blenden[8]
Dash (5 Laps): 1. 71-Brady Baker[1]; 2. 15D-Andrew Deal[2]; 3. 88-Terry Easum[3]; 4. 2C-Seth Bergman[5]; 5. 95-Matt Covington[6]; 6. 9L-Lane Whittington[7]; 7. (DNS) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr; 8. (DNS) 6-Koty Adams
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 9L-Lane Whittington[1]; 2. 55B-Brandon Anderson[3]; 3. 95-Matt Covington[4]; 4. 88K-Jordan Knight[5]; 5. 6G-Bryan Gossel[6]; 6. 16-Evan McElhaney[7]; 7. (DNS) 1H-Hank Davis; 8. (DNS) 13X-Jake Brashier
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 15D-Andrew Deal[1]; 2. 26-Jacob Harris[2]; 3. 2C-Seth Bergman[4]; 4. 9-Josh McCord[3]; 5. 45X-Kyler Johnson[6]; 6. 21-Butch David[7]; 7. 16G-Austyn Gossel[5]; 8. (DNS) 938-Bradley Fezard
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Koty Adams[1]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[2]; 3. 91-Michael Day[5]; 4. 121-Jan Howard[3]; 5. 10-Landon Britt[4]; 6. 88B-Brandon Blenden[6]; 7. 71T-Channin Tankersley[8]; 8. 2H-Tommy Hall[7]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Terry Easum[1]; 2. 24-Tyler Harris[3]; 3. 71-Brady Baker[4]; 4. 2-Brekton Crouch[2]; 5. 2J-Zach Blurton[5]; 6. 14-Jordon Mallett[7]; 7. 36-Jason Martin[6]
Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington, 00:14.466[4]; 2. 9L-Lane Whittington, 00:14.597[5]; 3. 1H-Hank Davis, 00:14.911[1]; 4. 55B-Brandon Anderson, 00:14.974[3]; 5. 88K-Jordan Knight, 00:15.046[7]; 6. 6G-Bryan Gossel, 00:15.224[8]; 7. 16-Evan McElhaney, 00:15.650[6]; 8. 13X-Jake Brashier, 00:15.716[2]
Qualifying 2 (2 Laps): 1. 2C-Seth Bergman, 00:14.359[4]; 2. 15D-Andrew Deal, 00:14.429[1]; 3. 26-Jacob Harris, 00:14.687[6]; 4. 9-Josh McCord, 00:14.754[8]; 5. 16G-Austyn Gossel, 00:14.870[3]; 6. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 00:15.192[2]; 7. 21-Butch David, 00:15.640[5]; 8. (DNS) 938-Bradley Fezard, 10:00.000
Qualifying 3 (2 Laps): 1. 10-Landon Britt, 00:14.341[7]; 2. 6-Koty Adams, 00:14.365[4]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 00:14.491[5]; 4. 121-Jan Howard, 00:14.543[8]; 5. 91-Michael Day, 00:14.788[1]; 6. 88B-Brandon Blenden, 00:14.804[3]; 7. 2H-Tommy Hall, 00:14.853[6]; 8. 71T-Channin Tankersley, 00:14.865[2]
Qualifying 4 (2 Laps): 1. 71-Brady Baker, 00:14.309[3]; 2. 88-Terry Easum, 00:14.410[4]; 3. 2-Brekton Crouch, 00:14.420[1]; 4. 24-Tyler Harris, 00:14.522[5]; 5. 2J-Zach Blurton, 00:14.589[2]; 6. 36-Jason Martin, 00:14.656[6]; 7. 14-Jordon Mallett, 00:14.680[7]